SENIOR U.S. SENATE DELEGATION, MARYAM RAJAVI MEET IN TIRANA, THE ALBANIAN CAPITAL

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, a senior delegation from the United States Senate meet with Maryam Rajavi, in the Albanian capital, Tirana, and discussed the situation of the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Albania, the latest developments in Iran and the Middle East as well as solutions to end the current crisis in that region.

The Senate delegation was comprised of Senators Roy Blunt, Vice President of the Republican Conference, and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees; John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Finance committees; and Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs committees.

The meeting, at one of the centers of the MEK in Albania, was initiated by Senator Roy Blunt, as the delegation was on a visit to Albania.

Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran. Having undertaken extensive efforts to ensure the security of MEK members in Camp Liberty, Iraq, and their transfer outside that country in previous years, Senator Blunt described the relocation as a major victory for the Iranian people and Resistance and lauded the efforts of Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance for the success of this major mission.

Maryam Rajavi thanked the Senators for their decisive position vis-à-vis the Iranian regime, especially the adoption of a new resolution which imposed sanctions on the clerical regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for human rights abuses, the ballistic missile program, and the export of terrorism. She expressed gratitude for the efforts of the U.S. Senate, particularly Senator Blunt, regarding the protection of thousands of MEK members in Camp Liberty, Iraq, and their safe relocation to Albania.

Maryam Rajavi emphasized that contrary to the propaganda by the Iranian regime’s apologists, the ruling theocracy was rotten to the core and very fragile. Without foreign support, especially the policy of appeasement pursued in the U.S. and Europe, it would not have survived so long. She added that regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach because a viable and democratic alternative exists. Maryam Rajavi said equating regime change by the Iranian people for democracy with war and instability in the region is a sheer lie, the source of which is the Iranian regime’s lobby in western capitals. They demagogically turn the truth on its head, she noted, adding that the overthrow of the Tehran regime was a prerequisite to ending crisis and war in the Middle East.

Maryam Rajavi underscored the need for imposing comprehensive sanctions on the Iranian regime’s banking and oil sector, expelling the IRGC and its affiliated militias from Syria, Iraq, and other regional countries, taking urgent steps to punish the regime for widespread political executions, especially the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate this major crime against humanity with the aim of bringing to justice the perpetrators, and recognizing the aspirations of the Iranian people and Resistance to overthrow the ruling religious tyranny and to establish freedom and democracy, and a republic based on the separation of religion and state, gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran.

The Senate delegation also met with a number of MEK members as well as witnesses to, and victims of, the Iranian regime’s atrocities in Iran and camps Ashraf and Liberty.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 12, 2017

IRAN CAN'T HOLD 'WORLD HOSTAGE' WITH NUCLEAR DEAL

Washington [D.C.] August 16 (ANI): United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said that Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage.As per media reports, Hailey said Iran must be held responsible for "its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.""Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage ...

The nuclear deal must not become 'too big to fail'," she added.

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had threatened that Tehran will abandon the 2015 nuclear deal with the P5+1 group and restart its nuclear program "within hours" if the United States continues to impose new sanctions on the country.

Rouhani issued the warning in a televised speech to Iran's Parliament, kicking off a vote-of-confidence session for nominated ministers of his second-term cabinet.

"Iran could quit the nuclear deal within hours if the US imposes more sanctions," Rouhani said.

Iran's President claimed that his country is capable of restarting its nuclear program within hours and quickly bringing it to even more advanced levels than in 2015.

"The new US administration officials should know that the failed experience of threats and sanctions forced their predecessors to come to the negotiating table. If they prefer to return to those times, Iran will definitely return to a situation much more advanced than the start of the nuclear negotiations, not within months and weeks, but in a matter of hours and days," Rouhani said in a televised speech at the parliament's open session on Saturday.

Expressing Iran's readiness to 'hold talks on removal of all sanctions, 'Rouhani underlined Iran's commitment to the nuclear deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), adding that Tehran will follow up and respond to any breach of the deal by other parties.

Last month, the U.S. announced new sanctions against entities and individuals with ties to Iran, a day after certifying that the IranIan government was in compliance with the nuclear agreement. (ANI)

originally published in the     aninews